| --- |
| page_title: Conditional Expressions - Configuration Language |
| description: >- |
| Conditional expressions select one of two values. You can use them to define |
| defaults to replace invalid values. |
| --- |
| |
| # Conditional Expressions |
| |
| A _conditional expression_ uses the value of a boolean expression to select one of |
| two values. |
| |
| > **Hands-on:** Try the [Create Dynamic Expressions](https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/expressions?in=terraform/configuration-language&utm_source=WEBSITE&utm_medium=WEB_IO&utm_offer=ARTICLE_PAGE&utm_content=DOCS) tutorial. |
| |
| ## Syntax |
| |
| The syntax of a conditional expression is as follows: |
| |
| ```hcl |
| condition ? true_val : false_val |
| ``` |
| |
| If `condition` is `true` then the result is `true_val`. If `condition` is |
| `false` then the result is `false_val`. |
| |
| A common use of conditional expressions is to define defaults to replace |
| invalid values: |
| |
| ``` |
| var.a != "" ? var.a : "default-a" |
| ``` |
| |
| If `var.a` is an empty string then the result is `"default-a"`, but otherwise |
| it is the actual value of `var.a`. |
| |
| ## Conditions |
| |
| The condition can be any expression that resolves to a boolean value. This will |
| usually be an expression that uses the equality, comparison, or logical |
| operators. |
| |
| ### Custom Condition Checks |
| |
| You can create conditions that produce custom error messages for several types of objects in a configuration. For example, you can add a condition to an input variable that checks whether incoming image IDs are formatted properly. |
| |
| Custom conditions can help capture assumptions, helping future maintainers understand the configuration design and intent. They also return useful information about errors earlier and in context, helping consumers more easily diagnose issues in their configurations. |
| |
| Refer to [Custom Condition Checks](/language/expressions/custom-conditions#input-variable-validation) for details. |
| |
| ## Result Types |
| |
| The two result values may be of any type, but they must both |
| be of the _same_ type so that Terraform can determine what type the whole |
| conditional expression will return without knowing the condition value. |
| |
| If the two result expressions don't produce the same type then Terraform will |
| attempt to find a type that they can both convert to, and make those |
| conversions automatically if so. |
| |
| For example, the following expression is valid and will always return a string, |
| because in Terraform all numbers can convert automatically to a string using |
| decimal digits: |
| |
| ```hcl |
| var.example ? 12 : "hello" |
| ``` |
| |
| Relying on this automatic conversion behavior can be confusing for those who |
| are not familiar with Terraform's conversion rules though, so we recommend |
| being explicit using type conversion functions in any situation where there may |
| be some uncertainty about the expected result type. |
| |
| The following example is contrived because it would be easier to write the |
| constant `"12"` instead of the type conversion in this case, but shows how to |
| use [`tostring`](/language/functions/tostring) to explicitly convert a number to |
| a string. |
| |
| ```hcl |
| var.example ? tostring(12) : "hello" |
| ``` |